Thanks for the great message almeeker. I usually carve my pumpkins on the day of halloween because mold sets in really fast here in Houston. I don't have any children but I enjoy carving pumpkins and handing out candy on Halloween.

I like to take pictures of them and enjoy them for a few days after I put the work into carving them. When they get moldy which is usually pretty quickly I toss them.

I don't know if I want to eat them after I had them set out on the front porch because of the possibility of bugs crawling around inside and laying eggs or something (it's a warm, humid climate). However I will definitely be using the pumpkin scrapings and your post helped me a lot.

If I ever live in a cooler climate I may be able to use the rest of the pumpkin too after I'm done with handing out candy.